Bayer Will Soon Sell You Cancer and the Drugs to Treat It

In a bid that is expected to face intense scrutiny from regulators in both the United States and in Germany, German pharmaceutical manufacturer Bayer announced last week that it had secured a deal to take over the world’s fifth largest agrochemical manufacturer, Monsanto.

Income By Segment Chart Found on Bayer’s Website. Click Chart For Original.

While it is true that Bayer already manufactures agrochemicals similar to those manufactured by Monsanto, the company’s holdings in pharmaceutical and healthcare products far exceed their holdings in agrochemical manufacturing. By their own account, the company reports on their website that their pharmaceutical holdings accounted for 49% of their total sales by market segment in 2015. That’s over double the amount brought in by their agrochemical investments in the same year.

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Most people know Bayer as the original manufacturer of Asprin, and that is where the company got it’s start. But when you dig a little deeper you find that the company also manufactures everything from Aleve to food supplements, vitamins, birth control pills, acne medications, and yes – even drugs relating to oncology – or, in layman terms, the treatment of cancer.

You don’t have to take my word for it though, because even their own website lists three major drugs used widely in the treatment of cancer patients: Nexavar, which is used to treat kidney, liver, and thyroid cancer; Stivarga, which is used to treat colorectal and gastrointestinal cancer; and Xofigo, which is used to treat bone cancer. So as you can clearly see, this is a company that has a major financial interest in the treatment of cancer.

Monsanto on the other hand, has spent the last hundred years manufacturing everything from synthetic sweeteners to household weed killer. Initially they got their start manufacturing food additives such as saccharine and vanillin. Saccharine is an artificial sweetener 300 times more potent than raw sugar, it’s used mostly as a cheap alternative to sugar in drinks, candies, and cookies. Vanillin is an alternative to vanilla extract, commonly used to reduce production costs.

While Monsanto’s manufacturing of food additives and their arguable links to cancer is definitely concerning, the company has manufactured products that in fact were positively linked to cancer and have since been banned. Several of those products caused massive loss of human life to cancer.

It wasn’t until after World War II that Monsanto began championing the use of pesticides in agriculture. This is when they began manufacturing the herbicide 2,4,5-T, which contains dioxin. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. military initiated an herbicidal warfare program using a mixture of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D. This combined agent was known as Agent Orange and had very high concentrations of dioxin.

Professor Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, at Tu Du Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital is pictured with a group of handicapped children, most of them victims of Agent Orange. Ho Chi Minh City, 2004. Photo: Alexis Duclos

While all of this is reasonable cause for concern, there are a number of other reasons to be concerned about the marriage of Bayer and Monsanto. Chief among them, the 2010 appointment of a new Deputy Commissioner of Food at the FDA by the name of Michael R. Taylor. As if having many highly paid lobbyists in Washington wasn’t good enough, the 2010 appointment of Taylor among the highest ranks of the FDA has solidified Monsanto’s firm grip on power within the agency – which, as it’s name implies, is the nation’s leading watchdog over all food and drugs that are released for public consumption.

If allowed to proceed, the pending $66 Billion merger of Bayer and Monsanto will consolidate the leading producer of cancer causing chemicals into the hands of the 13th largest cancer drug manufacturer in the world. The combined company would have regulatory approval for the manufacture of products that both cause and cure cancer. To call this a conflict of interest would be an understatement. In essence, Bayer will soon sell you cancer as well as the drugs to treat it.

Brad is the CEO and Editor-in-Chief of The Pacific Tribune. In addition to his work at The Pacific Tribune, he is President of Sound Strategy, a Seattle based creative design agency that builds and maintains websites and advertising for small and medium sized businesses around the world. In his spare time he serves as co-director and Board President of One Million Kids For Equality, a federally recognized 501c3 nonprofit that works to elevate the voices of LGBTQ youth and the children of LGBTQ parents.